A 19-year-old Maryland woman was arrested Monday in Aberdeen after police say she left a 6-month-old baby home alone and went to meet friends at a McDonald’s in Bel Air, about 10 miles away. Kira Faust was later charged with child neglect and released on her own recognizance.

Aberdeen police said they were alerted to an infant left alone in a property and, when officers arrived, found the child unattended in unsafe and unsanitary living conditions. The department said that with help from the Bel Air Police Department, officers later located Faust, who told them she had left the child alone to meet friends. Aberdeen police took temporary custody of the baby, while the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Aberdeen provided essential baby supplies.

The case matters now because police say the child was found alone in conditions they described as unsafe and unsanitary, and Child Protective Services moved to secure a safe placement after the arrest. The teen’s exact relationship to the child was not revealed, leaving one central fact about the case still unanswered even as the neglect charge moves ahead.

Faust’s recent work history may add another layer to the case. A LinkedIn profile indicates she most recently worked as a daycare teacher at Churchville Presbyterian Preschool and Daycare in Aberdeen, a detail that stands in sharp contrast to the allegations now facing her. Police have not said whether that role was connected in any way to the child involved.

For now, the child is out of the home where police found the infant alone, and the criminal case is moving forward in parallel with the welfare response. The question that matters most is no longer whether the baby was left behind; police say that part is already established. What remains is how the child ended up in Faust’s care, and what investigators and child welfare officials conclude about the adults responsible for that decision.